The Versatile Master Artist

If I had a capable cat, that would be great.

Most of my peers didn’t have such experiences.

To be honest, my school was really quite good.

The teachers were all very nice people, and no one compared one thing or another. Even the posters for these programs were quietly pasted in the corner of the bulletin board, as the school didn’t rely on this to make money.

Absolutely no one would say that if you couldn’t attend such programs, you were inferior or anything.

Absolutely not.

It was just during that time.

Many students in the school would sign up for study tours, and I indeed felt a bit envious. Gu Lin making a fuss to ask for money from his family to go to parties was adapted from this kind of emotion.

Of course, I was the kind of well-behaved child.

I never asked for money.

My mom and dad once told me... When you grow up a bit, we can let you travel abroad.

In elementary school, they mentioned middle school.

In the first year of junior high, they said the second year.

Later, they said high school.

My parents probably just said it casually, but I always remembered it firmly until one day when they said to me, ”After the college entrance exam...”

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I choked back and said that this kind of thing is always postponed. Do you know how many times you’ve said it now? When you tell me this, I no longer have any expectations, and your words never count!

Maybe there’s a little space for discussion about ”how parents should make promises to their children” in this matter.

But to be honest.

My mom and dad really provided me with the best growth environment they possibly could.

Just like this matter.

They thought about it.

The next day, they still took out over ten thousand yuan so I could go on a study tour during summer vacation, which was a significant amount of money for our family.

I signed up with great excitement.

I still remember the day of departure when my mom and dad drove me to the airport. As we got closer to the registration point, I told them they could stop, and I could get off here.

They asked me why.

I said I could walk over there.

At the time, I really thought this way — everyone else’s family drove Mercedes or Rolls-Royces, and you drive a Mazda... uh, okay.

Rolls-Royce was exaggerated.

Most of my classmates’ families had ordinary cars, but indeed some families were wealthier, riding in those Toyota minivans or Mercedes cars.

My dad was then driving an old, ten-year-old cheap Korean car.

I’ve always been thinking —

Throughout my whole growth phase, I felt pretty inferior.

So I didn’t want my classmates to see that my family drove ”this,” and I wanted to get off right there.

What a lousy thing to do... Every time I think back to this, I get really angry at my former self.

My mom and dad never blamed me for such things.

But I always felt uneasy.

”How could I become this kind of person?”

And that’s what Gu Lin did, wasn’t it?

I always criticized her, mocked her; I was also mocking myself.

But I didn’t become Gu Lin.

Nor did I become Miao Angwen.

Perhaps that’s the power of ”love” that my parents gave me?

My parents really love me.

I love them too.

...

That study tour trip had a start like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden — Granny Liu was me, I was that Granny Liu.

While waiting at Capital Airport.

My boarding pass seat number was ”L?” I thought to myself ”ABCDEFGHIJKLMN.”

”Wow, how big is this plane?” I commented sharply.

The classmates looked at me with a strange gaze.

After boarding, I realized the plane’s seat labels weren’t sequential.

I felt uneasy.

At check-in.

I heard a classmate next to me say — ”Wow, there’s a special offer now, upgrading to a cabin is only 700 pounds, it’s really worth it! Right?”

Wow, 700 pounds!

I mentally calculated, considering the exchange rate at that time.

I felt uneasy.

When getting off the plane, walking from back to front, I noticed the front cabins had reclining seats, separate partitions, and visibly different multimedia screens.

”Wow, the conditions in first class are really nice!”

I continued to comment sharply.

A classmate nearby whispered.

”Uh... actually, that’s business class.”

Was there such a thing as business class?

I felt uneasy again.

Alright... that’s how I spent a 10-hour flight in unease. But that was really the only episode during the trip.

And I have to say, the atmosphere in my middle school was really decent; thinking back, all the unease was something I forced upon myself.

Some classmates indeed came from very well-off backgrounds.

There were truly wealthy people.

But among those I contacted, almost all my classmates had pretty good personalities, and most were just similar to me, from working-class families. It was really a school where everyone aimed to excel academically rather than compete over family wealth. I never encountered a single villainous rich second generation like those in novels.

And that study tour program, for me, was like a crystal ball, looking towards others while reflecting my face on its glass shell—

I remember during the entire summer camp, we all stayed at Royal Holloway, University of London, not a famous but a very beautiful school, really attending classes in a castle-like setting, like Harry Potter, with bathtubs in the public restrooms along every classroom corridor, though I still haven’t figured out why there were bathtubs.